Colloquia/Seminars
Time: 11:00am, April 12, 2024
Venue: Lecture Hall, Shanghai Brain Center
Speaker: Prof. Brian A. Wandell
Psychology Department, Founding Director, Stanford’s Center for Neurobiological Imaging, Stanford University
Biography:
Brian A. Wandell, the Isaac and Madeline Stein Family Professor, joined the Stanford Psychology faculty in 1979. He is a member, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering, Ophthalmology, and the Graduate School of Education. Wandell is the Founding Director of Stanford’s Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, and he served as a Deputy Director of the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute from 2013-2021. His research centers on vision science, spanning visual neuroscience to digital imaging systems (cameras, displays). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011, received the highest honor of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology in 2014, was awarded the George A. Miller prize of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in 2016, and Proctor Medal from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in 2021. Wandell was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2003.
Abstract:
There has been extraordinary progress in our ability to measure and model the tissue properties and activity in the living human brain using magnetic resonance imaging. Reliable, quantitative measurements can be made at the millimeter scale in individuals, significantly enhancing the value of these techniques for both scientific and clinical applications.
I will describe functional MRI measurements used to identify the cortical visual field maps in the human brain. Using computational models, we can characterize the position, size and stimulus selectivity within small cortical volumes within each of these maps. I will describe how we used these methods to measure stability and plasticity in the human brain in a variety of subjects (achiasmia, miracle cures, retinal dystrophies). Then I will describe how we can track the signals through visual cortex when a child learns to read.
Quantitative measurements in individuals, supported by reproducible research tools, provide a foundation for understanding cortical circuits and their failures.